Motivation Tips When Working From Home

Hey everyone!

How do you find working from home? For me, working from home is difficult, but imagine you had it perfectly nailed.

My ‘home’ has changed three times in the past few months, we moved into our new home then realised it was going to be too much of a mess with all the building work. Then we moved into my partner’s parents – which was challenging to say the least and then we moved into our other property which was up for sale and now we have sold it. So we have no other choice but to move again… as our home won’t be ready.

Not only is my home life a bit upside down, but my work life could also suffer. I want to use the word ‘could’ because, i won’t let it.

This is not just about mindset, but self control and also routine and i’m going to share with you some of my top tips on how you can have that perfect office setup, from your very own home.

Firstly, you need to establish you working hours. How many days will you work per week? How many hours per day will you work? Structure is key here. Write this all down, create a pretty visual chart if needed. Knowing your working hours and days will really help you stay focused.

What do you do when you first wake up in the morning? This is important. Stop picking up your phone or your laptop if you do this. I know you want to cram as many hours into the day you can, but it is not a healthy way to start the day.

When i wake up, I go downstairs and I tidy up. A messy home, will make you have a messy mind and i spend just 15 minutes ensuring the space where I am working is clean and tidy.

I then, make myself a lovely warm herbal tea (peppermint usually!) and some hot porridge with peanut butter, seeds and a handful of blueberries and back up the stairs i go! I will sit in bed for around 15 minutes, mindfully eating and having my warm hot drink without any thoughts of the day.

Then I do 15 minutes of meditation. Usually I find something on YouTube or use an app, anything to relax me and put me in a good mindset for the day. However you start the day, is how you set the tone for the rest of your day, so make sure it is a good start FULL of positive thoughts.

When I have done my meditation, I make my bed then I have a hot shower and get dressed. I do my hair and ‘sometimes’ my makeup, it all depends if I have a meeting or not. This is the hardest part of the day so far. I have found it a struggle to do it, but what I found is when I consciously think about it, I talk myself out of it. So I silence my mind. I count to 5, with no other thoughts and just do it. You will feel so much better after you have done this!

You may want to squeeze a morning jog, walk or gym session in before you get ready – but for me, I’m not much of a fitness fanatic nowadays – this is something I am working on, but for now, let’s focus on you!

I then ensure I have a good office setup, that doesn’t have to be a fancy office – but just an area which I can work from. A clean and tidy space. I put on my air diffuser usually blowing out lavender into the air and make myself another drink and a snack and pop it on my desk. The reason for this, is so that I do not have to get up to go to the fridge or kitchen – this would be a major distraction and I may be tempted to go off track.

Staying focused can also be difficult, so I do not put the TV on. Here is what I do to stay focused whilst working from home:

2. I wear headphones and listen to an audio book or some concentration music off YouTube.

3. I switch off all my notifications on my phone. Facebook, Whatsapp and Emails they all go off.

The reason for this is that, I do not want to be distracted by something personal or not important ‘at that time’. Clients will wait. You do not need to be so responsive. What I do is turn it off and check it for 10 minutes every 2 hours. By checking your notifications more frequently, not only are you creating an extremely bad habit but you are also setting an expectation to your Clients. If your Client cannot wait 2 hours for a response, there is something wrong.

No matter where you are – travelling or moving around you can follow the steps above and still have a very productive day. Keeping motivated, focused and working – all day can be difficult. Take a break for lunch, 30 minutes watch the TV, go for a walk and switch off and come back refreshed.

You will find your blood sugars drop naturally around 2.30/3pm so try to not have sugar fuelled snacks, they will make you crash and also not help your concentration.

I hope you have found some of these tips helpful, if you have any you would like to share please comment below.

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Claire Freshney is the CEO of Claire Freshney Consulting and helps Businesses to improve their Online and Offline Experiences, to improve Customer Satisfaction, Increase Employee Performance, Reduce Healthcare Costs, Increase Sales and much more! When you hire Claire, you will work directly with Claire on a Consulting or a Project basis. Claire also collaborates with a team of specialists for larger projects and has been working on improving experiences for over 10 years.